Brendan Rodgers in daily contact with Luis Suarez and hopes he stays at LFC

Reds boss in 'constant communication' with Suarez and says club don't want to sell

Brendan Rodgers has revealed that he has been in daily contact with Luis Suarez during the course of this summer – and is still hopeful that the Uruguayan will kick-off the 2013/14 season in the Reds’ number seven shirt.

Suarez gave the latest in a series of provocative interviews to a radio station in Uruguay this week – where he explained that while he was planning to return to Melwood later this month “a phone call change everything.”

Manager Rodgers said today: “We’re communicating in some way with him nearly every day – either through text or conversation – and I hope he stays. I really do.

“Over the course of the last few months and towards the end of last season there was a lot of speculation about Luis because of his situation and what happened (the Ivanovic biting incident) but the fact is we value the player – he had a terrific season for us and showed his qualities.

“I’m in regular communication with him both through texts and conversations on the phone.

“He’s an absolute magician on the football field and a very valued player by us.”

Rodgers also revealed that he and other club officials had tried hard to convince Suarez that he had not been the victim, as perceived, of a witch-hunt by the English media.

“It’s something that we’ve stressed,” he said. “What he did was wrong at the end of last season – that was the bottom line. You can’t do that on the football pitch – but we’ve moved on from that.

“Luis is a real competitor, he’s a real winner, he wants Liverpool to do so well but at the moment he’s on a break, he’s been at the Confederations Cup, he’s relaxing with his family but we’re in constant communication with him.

“He’s got three years left on his contract. We don’t want to sell him and we hope that everything will be fine for this summer.

“We want to bring in a few more players to reinforce the group.

“We want to put up a better fight this season. And I think we will do.

“Last year the first six months was very up and down but in the second half of the season we really kicked on and performed consistently. If we can keep that going – and from what I’ve seen in pre-season our starting point this year is much better – we hope that can continue to have a good pre-season, but we still have an awful lot of work to do – and hopefully a few more signings – then come that first game against Stoke we can hopefully make a good start and then put up a real good fight.”

Rodgers also revealed that his first season at Anfield had been a personal learning curve for himself.

“Everyone knows it’s a massive club,” he explained. “The status of the club is incredible, but it’s only until you come in it that you understand everything that goes on with the football club, with the Hillsborough Support Group ... it’s more than a football club, this is a way of life.

“It probably took me six months or a year to get the feel of it but now that I have I just hope to do the supporters proud and keep progressing.”

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